The coming-of-age stories in Alana NoEl Voth's Dog Men cling to you like only the most personal and upsetting dreams can. They're nightmares the way your first love was a "nightmare," or the first time you got laid. They're haunting, surreal, but deeply personal. They're the X-Rated episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Joss Whedon didn't have the courage to air. They don't flinch. Voth's characters are people you know, and yet nothing you could have imagined. If you don't keep them close, they'll find you.